South KoreaandAND⤬THE JUNCTION
3 SHARED EVENTSUnited States

Entangled histories

3 events in which either nation’s sourced chronicle names the other — including under earlier names of the same state. Each is the same record, with the same sources, as on its own chronicle; nothing here was written for this page.

ONE SPINE OF YEARS · TWO WALLS OF EVENTS · KOR LEFT · USA RIGHT

1. 7-8 September 1945

   American forces land at Incheon

   MacArthur's Proclamation No. 1 (7 September) assumes military government over Korea south of 38 degrees north latitude. A small advance party of the US XXIV Corps had landed at Kimpo airfield near Seoul on 4 September; the bulk of the corps lands at Incheon and enters Seoul on 8 September.

   Politics & Power · from the South Korea chronicle · Division, the Korean War, and Authoritarian Rebuilding · REFS 2 — Foreign Relations of the United States, 1945, Vol. VI, Doc. 776: Proclamation No. 1 by General Douglas MacArthur, 7 September 1945, Policy and Direction: The First Year, Chapter II, The House Divided

2. 1945 CE

   Division at the 38th parallel

   The peninsula is split into Soviet and American occupation zones along the 38th parallel, setting the stage for two rival Korean states.

   Politics & Power · from the South Korea chronicle · Division, the Korean War, and Authoritarian Rebuilding · REFS 2 — The Korean War and Japan's Recovery, Korea (history)

3. Night of 10-11 August 1945

   Rusk and Bonesteel propose the 38th parallel

   During an overnight meeting in John McCloy's Pentagon office, US Army officers Dean Rusk and Charles Bonesteel are asked to retire to an adjoining room and propose where US forces should accept Japan's surrender in Korea. They recommend the 38th parallel to include Seoul in the American area, though it lay further north than US forces could reach if the Soviet Union disagreed (Rusk's own later account, 1950).

   Politics & Power · from the South Korea chronicle · Japanese Colonial Rule · REFS 2 — Foreign Relations of the United States, 1945, Vol. VI, Doc. 771: Draft memorandum on Korea, with Dean Rusk's memorandum of 12 July 1950 on the 38th parallel, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1945, Vol. VI, Doc. 437: General Order No. 1 for the surrender of Japan (JCS memorandum, 14 August 1945)